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Adventure 6, Expedition 1 Part B

Adventuring Troupe:

  • Naarvi the Thief  (human)
  • Cham the Fighter (human)
  • Farlon the Magic-user (human)
  • Bimbo Baggins the Free Goblin
  • Toki the Dwarf
  • Link d’In the Halfling

Date: Fifth-day of Week 24, Year 441

The Foes, times four!
Source: www.miniaturemarket.com

Farlon drew out his flint and tinder above the oil he had spread out in front of them, switching back to shouting in Bugbear. Before Farlon could take any action, Cham leapt over the liquid to attack the large humanoids bearing down upon them and their new goat friend. He bravely hacked away at the middle of their advancing line.

Link, from the cover of the trees, joined the fray with their bow. Toki circled around, splitting his foes attention. The troupe’s adversaries seemed to take exception to being hacked and shot at, returning the favor by striking at various party members with their enormous clubs. BB ran from the cover of the trees, hurling a dagger into an adversary. Cham took several hits from their opponents and was felled, much to the horror of his companions.

The troupe continued to whittle down their adversaries, with Link finally killing one of the large humanoids using his bow. Seeing that Lady Luck was not on their side in this fight, two of the remaining three enemies turned and ran. They would rather live to fight another day. The remaining foe was quickly felled, finished off with a killing stroke from Toki.

Poking through the fallen foes carrying sacks, BB found many things. The parchment they used to light a fire, over which they cooked a giant rat from one of the sacks. Everything else was discarded, such as a book they couldn’t read and a troll arm they didn’t want to eat. Off to the side, Farlon and Naarvi each butchered one of the dead adversaries, collecting one heart a piece. Farlon also gathered blood in his temporarily empty oil flask.

BB, Link, and Farlon looted the corpse of their slaughtered companion, stripping it of everything of value before the party buried the body. Farlon and Naarvi each took sips of the foes gathered blood, pouring out a similar sip to honor the dead party member. The mangled enemies the party left where they had been taken apart, staining the hillside.    

Source: Organics.org

BB’s shield had splintered in the fight, and they spent part of the evening fashioning Cham’s breastplate into the beginnings of a new shield. They estimated that it would take roughly two weeks of work in camp every evening to make themselves a new shield from this material. They bedded down in a tree, while the rest of the troupe found or made shelter under the cover of the trees. The goat wandered off on its own.

     

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Adventure 6, Expedition 1 Part A

Adventuring Troupe:

  • El-Nhuilna the Awakened Cat
  • Naarvi the Thief  (human)
  • Cham the Fighter (human)
  • Farlon the Magic-user (human)
  • Bimbo Baggins the Free Goblin
  • Toki the Dwarf
  • Link d’In the Halfling

Date: Fifth-day of Week 24, Year 441

Seeking their fortunes, adventures, or more arcane things the adventuring troupe coalesced on the road in the Holding of Henovell. There was much debate as to where the troupe would head, but none were inclined to strike out on their own. As Bimbo Baggins, known as BB put it, “I didn’t join you all to go there by myself.”

After much debate, but little actual dissent, the troupe decided to investigate rumors of a red dragon flying above the mountains to the northeast. The group could not agree on the approach they would take once they actually reached the dragon: seeking friendship, stealing treasure, killing the dragon to eat its heart. Plans were suggested and discarded with abandon.

Upon the road much was discussed. A boisterous topic of conversation was joining various cults. Several of the members of the party loudly proclaimed their enthusiasm to join, when they were able.

And so it was that the troupe found themselves in the hills above the headwaters of The Gleam, the main tributary to the Coral River. The tracks they traveled on dwindled, and then dwindled further. On the fifth day of Week 24, they came upon a goat and El-Nhuilna, known as El, decided to try and be friends.

Finding that she could not actually speak with the goat, she settled for having a steed. Upon attaching herself to the goat’s back, however, she discovered that a goat’s startled gait was a bit more rocky than she had anticipated. Given that disappointment, she gallantly allowed Friend Link d’In to carry her once again.        

About this time, the troupe noticed four humanoid creatures coming towards them over the hill from the east, the way they had come. Each of the creatures was much larger than any of the party members, and each carried an enormous sack. The creatures approached the party as the troupe discussed things among themselves.

When the creatures had drawn too close for BB’s comfort, the free goblin retreated to a nearby copse of trees to make a stand. El, Link, and Naarvi followed suite, hustling slightly further into the copse than BB. Farlon, on the other hand, drew a line in the dry grass at their feet with oil. The party members tried in several languages to converse with the looming, gangly humanoids. The only language that seemed to cause a reaction was Bugbear, to which they responded by pausing cautiously to look about.

Creeping closer, ignoring the burble of Goblin as Farlon tried a new language, the hulking humanoids had nearly reached Farlon, Cham, and Toki at the oil slick.

To Be Continued!

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Calendar Days

The calendar of Adralel is circular. Everyone agrees that there are 10 days in a week, 50 weeks in a year and thus 500 days in a year. Everyone agrees that there are 12 holidays spread more or less equidistant around the course of the year. That, however, is where general agreement stops.

The way in which a community thinks about how the year is divided often reflects their lifestyle. For instance, many farmers divide the year into Waxing Days and Waning Days. Waxing begins on Day 418, the Lean Day of Thanks, while Waning begins on Day 68, the Day of Plenty. Their year is tied to the soil.

A cleric or mage may think of the year in terms of magic and energies, dividing the year into before the Summer Solstice on Day 126 and after the Summer Solstice. Urbanites, keeping the same schedule all year regardless of season, often follow the calendar more literally, marking the new year on Day 1 and celebrating the halfway point on Day 251 at the Death of the Year holiday.

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The Marauding Mist

Caravan guards sit close around a campfire, mist all around them on an otherwise cloudless night. A few flasks make their way around the circle. They talk in low voices, and eye the shifting mist largely obscuring the merchant’s wagons.

“Back before the world burned, I’ve heard there was no marauding mist. The mist was blameless, innocent of danger. When the great lords made terrible magics and devices for their wars on each other, the mist was born from their hate.”

“Well I’ve heard the mist is from another world, creeping in through holes the lords tore in the very fabric of the sky, reaching too far beyond their ken in their lust for power, calling upon power or magic they had no right to. Just like entitled little lordlings now.” The guard turned her head and spit into the mist.

“That’s what I think, too,” another volunteered. “That it comes from another world, I mean. And sometimes it brings things with it! My nan knew someone who stumbled out of the mist. They said they didn’t even recognize the stars anymore. Never could explain rightly where they come from, poor sod.”

“We’ll set two per watch tonight, just like any mist night, in case one a ya takes ta screamin’.” A calm voice cut across the chatter. Everyone nods at the veteran’s words , accepting his edict without protest. He knew his business. “Even better is ta be inside on mist nights, where the maraudin’ mist fears ta go, but I doubt those cozy merchants would invite the likes a us guard to join ’em in their snug wagons.”

The newest addition to the guard troop glanced bleakly at the closest wagon, separated from their fire by the barest tendril of mist. It was plain that indoors was where he would rather be, even at the cost of mockery and laughter from those around the fire. Noticing his discomfort, one of the guards takes up a story teller’s voice.

“The mist holds nameless dread and sharp, thin blades. Folk lost out in the mist, if they’re found at all, are found as corpses. Sometimes they look perfect, without a mark on their bodies. Dead from fear alone, some say. Sometimes they look like badly dressed meat, they have so many cuts all across their flesh. Occasional folk can walk through the mist untouched, and no one knows why. Dangerous trick to try twice, of course. The mist is fickle, and jealous of its secrets. The mist-“

“Shut up, Venric.” The vetran quashes the attempt to further spook the untested guard in a conversational tone of voice. “We don’t need people more riled up than they already are. Nice a you ta volunteer fer middle watch.”

“I had middle watch last night!” Venric exclaimed in outrage. He groaned, already imagining how much harder tomorrow would be after having such fractured sleep two nights in a row. He continued to grumble to anyone who would listen as the guards settled into the bedrolls.

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On Goblins and Elves

The dominant races on Adralel are dwarves, elves, halflings, and humans. There are enclaves of other races, such as man-apes, high orcs, and ogres, to name a few. Goblins and elves mutually consider themselves to be separate races, though many outside of that strange relationship consider them to be kin.  

King of the Wood Elves, from the 1977 animated Hobbit
Source: Olde School Wizardry Blog

Relations between elves and the other dominant races are often strained. Elves keep to themselves, being out of step with the mortal affairs and mindsets of the other races, because they are ageless. Almost all elven settlements keep slaves, which is fundamentally opposed by any of the Good alignments. Though there are non-Good aligned City States or Holdings that legally allow slavery scattered throughout Adralel, elves are the only race in the four to view slavery as a cultural mainstay. As they predominantly keep their own offspring, goblins, as slaves, the other races have not intervened.

Elves rarely breed true, and the majority of their offspring are goblins. Goblins share an affinity for both magic and combat with their elven progenitors, though they are generally weaker and lacking in the strange grace of the elves. An elf often leaves their goblin child out in the open, to be taken in as a slave by a neighbor or die from exposure to the elements.

Goblins, when they manage to extricate themselves from slavery in elven society, can be bold adventurers. Free goblin societies spring up around an accomplished goblin adventurer, when he or she decides to build a Labyrinth.

A goblin, Big Ears, talking about his values as a Good-aligned character
Source: Goblins the Webcomic

The social structure and wealth division of Labyrinths is most often fiercely communist, in rejection of elven society. Typical goblin Labyrinths turn no one away when they seek aid or shelter, and they can be very good neighbors.  

Despite this, goblins are sometimes viewed with a mixture of suspicion and pity by other races. Humans in particular can be very suspicious of goblins. There have long been tales of free goblins stealing human babies and using dire magics to transform the babes into goblins.

Elves often do what they can to sow seeds of distrust between goblins and other races. They in particular make a show of wiping out the occasional goblin Labyrinth to “save” the surrounding countryside from goblin mischief. As they are out of step with the rest of the world, it is difficult to predict when they will take such action.

Goblins, unlike, elves, do have souls and age at a rate similar to halflings. How it is possible that a soulless being is able to produce offspring that is in firm possession of a soul is a matter hotly debated in academic and religious circles.

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Adralel Calendar System and Passage of Time In-Game

Age – 1,000 years. The current age is referred to as the “Modern Age”. Past ages are named based on great events that took place during that age. The names of recent past ages are mildly contested, and often vary by culture.

Year – 50 weeks, noted by number, such as “Week 19”.

Week – 10 days, referred to as first-day, second-day1 and so on.

The first day of the Adralel new year is the Spring Equinox, celebrating the fulfilled promise of the return of life after long winter.

It is currently seventh-day of Week 20 in Adralel.

Time in the world of Adralel passes whenever games are in session. The O’ahu play sessions, for example, often take place over three or four days. Up to several weeks may pass in-game between play sessions for the more sporadic adventuring troupes. This is either treated as time in town, which can be spent on economic or research pursuits, or hand-waved if a troupe is mid dungeon crawl.

1. Based on the Faerunian The Calendar of Harptos tenday naming system, from Forgotten Realms.